


Tiny dancer

by Saltylocks



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, science gone wrong, tiny!Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 09:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16426385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saltylocks/pseuds/Saltylocks
Summary: Steve is small again after a science experiment gone wrong. Bucky isn’t sure what to think.





	Tiny dancer

He’s sitting in his rolled up tucked in pyjamas as Bucky enters the kitchen at the Avengers tower. He doesn’t have to turn to know it’s him, his whole body knows, and he relaxes a little.

“What happened?” Bucky asks.

Steve can hear his jaws clenching and turns to calm him. 

“Bruce was trying out something new and asked me to try it. It didn’t have the intended effect…”

He reaches out his hand to grab Bucky’s as he turns. His friend looks back at him and Steve can tell he’s out for blood, that he wants to hurt Bruce. 

“Bucky,” he says, mustering as much authority mixed with softness as he can. Bucky visually relaxes.

“It’s okay. I’m not as sickly as I was before. I’m still strong, I don’t cough all the time…”

Steve is interrupted by his friend’s arms around his tiny ribs. Bucky puts his head on his shoulder. It feels heavy, and the metal arm sends a chill up Steve’s back.

“Tony didn’t tell me anything when I came back from the mission,” Bucky whispers. “Just that I needed to get home. I asked if you were dead. He said you were altered. You have no idea what went through my head on the way over here. But this...I’ve seen you like this before.”

Bucky’s words came out slow, the weight of the mission finally catching up to him now that he knows Steve’s safe. He’s so tired without the adrenaline, Hydra superspy or not. Without the constant injections he’s looking less and less like a muscular shadow and more and more like the sniper he used to be. The scars were still there, the new improved arm from Wakanda too, but here, with Steve, he could find a rare moment of peace. Steve ran his hand through Bucky’s hair, murmuring something, and he can feel the words vibrate through them rather than actually hearing them.

“You’re too heavy, you’re going to topple the chair over.”

Bucky sighs and makes himself straighten up. 

“You sure you’re okay?” he asks, but he is so tired, almost sleeping where he stands. Steve chuckles and gets down from the now quite high chair. The dim kitchen light illuminate his tiny frame from behind as he walks over, and Bucky can’t help but think he had a dream like this once, or maybe it actually happened, a long time ago. Steve’s tiny arms wrap around his midsection and Bucky puts his chin on his crown and lets himself be lead to one of the free bedroom of many in the tower. The spartan rooms are for moments like this, a place to stay when you need sleep after a mission, or take a nap after a particularly draining debriefing with Fury.

“Come on buddy, time for your beauty sleep,” Steve jokes, and Bucky just sighs in response. He can feel that Steve is stronger than he used to be, not struggling with his friend’s considerable weight at all. They make it inside and Bucky immediately flops down on the bed. Steve’s chuckling again, and Bucky can feel him beginning to untie his shoelaces, even though there are plenty of new sheets. You can take the poor kid out of Brooklyn but not Brooklyn out of the kid. Steve gets his shoes off in record time and again Bucky thinks he might have dreamed, or maybe he just remember a time long ago, in a drafty old apartment where he and the man before him used to live, before the war and Hydra and the ice fucked everything up. He motions to Steve to come closer, and he does, his light frame barely shifting the bed as he sits down. Bucky grabs his hand and wraps his fingers around his, tightly.

“Stay here a little longer,” he mumbles through sleep addled lips. 

“Sure Buck,” Steve smiles.

Bucky hums and drifts off.


End file.
